2012 15-inch MacBook Pro SSD Swap Help

Hello, I have a 2012 15-inch MacBook Pro that i'm upgrading. I'm replacing the ram and upgrading the 5400rpm hdd with a SSD. What I plan to do is put in the SSD in a caddy, and put it in place of the current dvdrom. I plan on having both the old HDD and the new SSD.

Can I put the SSD in the secondary hdd position(where the dvdrom was) and clone the first hdd, than format the old HDD. Can I run OSX off the SSD in that second slot. Or will I then have to swap the SSD to the first position and than move the old HDD into the caddy?

I'm hoping to only open up the macbook once if possible. I also dont have one of those cables that i can connect the sdd via usb and dont plan on buying it for a one off upgrade.

The SSD will work in the optical drive position, just make sure you get a good caddy that performs well and reliably. OWC has a good caddy.

You can clone your old HDD to the newly installed SSD AFTER running Disk Utility to format the SSD for Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I recommend using Carbon Copy Cloner to perform the clone. It has a fully functional 30 day free trial and it will also clone your Recovery partition to the new SSD.

Thanks, that my plan. But than can I erase the original hdd and boot off the SSD in the secondary caddy position? Or do i need to swap them after i clone and erase the old hdd?

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After you clone your HDD to the SSD, restart the computer holding the option key and select your SSD to startup. If that is successful then go into System Preferences to set the startup disk to the new SSD. If your satisfied with the way things are functioning on the SSD then you can use Disk Utility to format your old HDD. You can leave the SSD in the optical bay. You do not need to swap the drives.

After you clone your HDD to the SSD, restart the computer holding the option key and select your SSD to startup. If that is successful then go into System Preferences to set the startup disk to the new SSD. If your satisfied with the way things are functioning on the SSD then you can use Disk Utility to format your old HDD. You can leave the SSD in the optical bay. You do not need to swap the drives.

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